Senior Year
by Mangoesaregood8
Summary: High School AU Where Will and Jem are trying to make it through their Senior year in high school. They have quite a few difficulties to over come such as SATs, college apps, and even their romantic lives. Will they be able to handle the stress of their last year in high school or will the both be overwhelmed by it? Will be rated M later for graphic content.
1. Chapter 1

Will was staring at the alarm clock that sat on his night stand next to his bed. It told him that it was ten in the morning. It was also telling him that it was the last day of his summer vacation. He groaned and put his arm over his face to shield it from the sunlight that was coming through his window. He didn't want to go back to school tomorrow. He had finished all of the summer work way ahead of time, but he wasn't looking forward to getting up early in the morning and sitting around in a classroom all day. Worst of all Cece was starting high school this year, so he was going to have to see her in the hall ways every day. He knew he wasn't going to have any classes with her, but knowing that she was in the same building wasn't very comforting.

The one good thing about going back to school was that he was going to be able to see his best friend, Jem every day. Not being in school didn't stop him from seeing Jem as often as he could and sleeping over his house, but for July and most of August, Jem had gone to China to visit family, so Will was pretty lonely.

Jem had gotten back about two weeks ago. The weather had really gotten to him, and so had the jet lag, so he had been at home mostly sleeping. His mother said that he wasn't allowed to have any visitors, so Will hadn't seen him yet.

Will sat up in his bed and ran his fingers through his dark locks. They were sticking up in a tangled mess on his head. He would try combing it after a shower. Trying to comb it now would have been a pointless waste of time.

Will climbed out of his bed and rummaged around for his phone. Jem had tried texting him whenever he could, which wasn't all that often, so Will knew that he shouldn't get his hopes up. But he couldn't help it any ways. He felt the phone and turned it on. He had a new message. From Jem!

'_My mum says you can come over today around lunch time if you'd like.'_

Will smiled as he typed his reply. '_I'll be there.'_

Will pulled on a shirt and went outside of his room to look for his mother.

"Mam? Where are you?"

"I'm in the kitchen Will."

Will went downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Did you need something Will?"

"Yes. Can I go to Jem's house for lunch? He just texted me and said it was okay with his mum."

"Are you all packed for school tomorrow? I know how you two can lose track of time," Linette said.

"Yes, Mam, I'm all ready for school."

"Well, I don't see an issue with it. I'm just going to be taking Cece to the store to make sure she has everything she needs. One of her teachers just posted the supplies she needs last week."

"Before you know it, the teachers aren't going to post what we need for class until class has already started," said Will.

"Oh Will, I hope not. I'm just hoping that the store has everything we need. I don't want to be driving all around New York the day before school starts. You know everyone is going to be out."

"Hopefully you find what you need."

"Did you need a ride to Jem's house?" Linette asked.

"No. I can walk. It's a nice day and I'm going to enjoy my last full day of freedom as much as I can."

Linette rolled her eyes playfully. "Will, you're going back to school, not going to prison."

"It might as well be a prison, with how much work they give us."

"You wanted to go to a private school you know. You didn't have to."

Will thought about the public school system in the area for a minute. Like most school systems, many of the students were behind in their reading. It was bad enough in his school. Will sometimes doubted it was a private school. The only thing constantly reminding him that it was a private school was the fact that he had to wear a uniform. That and how strict the teachers were about students wearing the uniform properly. If you tie wasn't tight enough, detention. Wrong colored socks? Detention. Forgot your blazer during the winter? Detention. Walked around with your shirt untucked? A teacher would probably yell at you to tuck it back in, but they wouldn't' give you a detention for it. Will was certainly grateful for that, or else he would have been in detention more times than he could count.

"Well, I'm going to get ready to go to Jem's house," Will said. He grabbed a piece of bread and stuffed it in his mouth before returning upstairs to get his things ready for the shower.

"Alright. You be good now. Don't stay over too late Will. I mean it."

"I'll be back in time for dinner," he said through a mouthful of bread. He walked into his room, grabbed and towel, then claimed the bathroom for himself.

Will got undressed and turned on the water, waiting for it to heat up. He was excited to see Jem, but it wasn't worth a cold shower.

Once the water was to Will's liking, he stepped in the shower and washed his hair and body as fast as he could. He turned off the water once he was clean and dried himself off with his towel. He then ran back over to his room and yanked his comb through his hair, trying to get out the tangles as quickly as possible. He picked out his outfit for the day, a pair of cargo shorts and a blue polo shirt to match his eyes, and put it on. It was still warm outside, so he decided to wear flip flops. They would be the easiest to take off when he got to Jem's house.

Will made sure that he had his wallet, his phone, and his set of house keys before going back downstairs.

"I'll be back later Mam," Will said as he rushed out of the door.

"Be good!" Linette called before the door shut behind him.

Will started the walk down the street to the next neighborhood where Jem lived. It wasn't that long of a walk, twenty minutes at most if you weren't in a rush. Will however was and he made it in a record eight minutes. He knocked on the door and waited for a response.

"Oh Will! I haven't seen you in so long. How are you?" Wen Yu opened the door with a smile.

"Hi, Mrs. Carstairs. I'm doing well. How have you been?"

"Good. We all just go back from China two weeks ago. Come in Will, come in." Wen Yu opened the door wider to let Will in.

Will stepped inside and took off his shoes, putting them by the rack with the rest of the shoes.

"Jem is upstairs in his room. Do you want me to bring you a snack? You've gotten so skinny since we left. You need to eat more."

"Do you have any wontons? Those are really good."

"I will bring some up." Wen Yu then disappeared into her kitchen.

Will went up the stairs and into Jem's room.

"Knock knock."

"You know, you could actually knock for once," Jem said with a chuckle.

"I know, but then I wouldn't be me." Will smiled and sat on the edge of Jem's bed.

"I know, but what if I was naked?" Jem was sitting on his bed as well, polishing the surface of his violin.

"It's nothing I haven't seen before."

Jem nodded. "True, but that doesn't mean I want you to see me naked."

Will laughed and ruffled Jem's dark hair.

"Hey!"

"I've missed you Jem. Glad to have you back."

"You sound like you haven't seen me in ten years, not two months."

"It definitely felt like ten years. I didn't have much to do while you were gone."

"Oh Will. Dramatic as ever I see." Jem stood up and put his violin away. He locked the case and put it on a shelf for safe keeping.

"It's not being dramatic, it's the truth!"

Jem rolled his eyes playfully. "Whatever you say Herondale."

"So, how was China?" Will asked, moving to sit cross – legged on the bed.

"It was alright. I just went to visit family really. I go every year so there's really nothing all that new for me to see. To be honest, it was a bit lonely. Since I don't live there anymore, I don't have any friends over there. And trying to get in contact with America is nearly impossible."

"I know. You didn't send all that many emails," Will said.

"I tried to, but my grandparents' internet is so slow. They only really got it for me, so they don't want to have to pay for something they aren't really going to use. They don't understand why I like to use it so much."

Will tried to stifle a laugh. "Aren't most grandparents like that?"

"I suppose." Jem smiled softly. "So besides missing me, how have you been?"

"Alright. Ella came home for the summer so we hung out a lot. She even took me to Coney Island for the day. It was really crowded, but it was a lot of fun. And then of course Cece was driving me up the wall like any usual day. I love her, but some days I really just want to strangle her."

"Is she excited about started high school?" Jem asked with a curious tilt of his head.

"Yes. She's beyond excited. She keeps telling me how she can't wait to be in school with her big brother again. It's been getting annoying."

"Tell me again how you two are two years apart, you're going to be graduating this year and she's just starting?"

Will leaned back and supported himself on his arms. "She's got a late birthday so she started school late. She should be a sophomore, but she's going to be a freshman instead. She just turned fifteen."

"So she's one of the oldest in her class?"

Will thought for a moment. "I think she is the oldest. I'm not really sure. I don't keep track of the incoming freshmen. Each new class is more annoying than then last."

Jem smirked. "Don't you think the seniors when we were freshmen thought we the most annoying thing on the planet?"

"What are you talking about? We were the best freshmen ever."

"If you say so."

Wen Yu opened the door and came in with a tray. She set it down on the nightstand. "There you boys go. Eat up." With that, she left.

Jem looked over the tray. "Wonton soup?"

"I may have asked for it."

"Admit it. You just come here for my mother's cooking, don't you?" Jem picked up one of the bowls and handed it to Will.

Will took the bowl and drank some of the broth, immediately wishing he had let it cool for a moment. It was scalding hot and burned the tip of his tongue.

"Ow! Dammit!"

"I was going to tell you to be careful, but I think you've figured that out on your own."

Will glared at Jem. "Yes, I think I have."

Jem handed him a cup of tea and they drank it together as they waited for their soup to cool off.

"Are you ready for school to start tomorrow?" Will asked, taking a bite into one of the wontons.

"It depends on what you mean by ready. I finished all of the work. I'm not really ready to go back yet. It doesn't really feel like I had much of a vacation with all the traveling we did. We ended up going to Beijing to see Tiananmen Square. It took a day to get there and then we spent the day walking around. Then it took another day to get back to Shanghai. Those trains may be fast but they certainly aren't comfortable."

"That sounds horrible," Will said with a frown. "How are you still able to walk?"

"By some miracle I suppose. Who knows?"

Will shrugged and ate more of his soup. Jem drank some of his tea.

"I for one wish summer vacation was longer. I'm not looking forward to school. We're going to have to start looking at colleges and take the SAT. I know it's not that hard, but that combined with school work is going to be nearly impossible."

"Don't forget that I have to do auditions too. I did a few while I was in China," Jem said.

"Really? You're thinking about going to college in China?"

"I'm thinking about it. I don't know yet. It depends on how my health holds up."

"Oh right. Your asthma gets really bad when you're around smog, doesn't it?"

"Yes it does. That's why I'm not sure if I can go to China. That's one reason why we moved away when I was twelve," Jem said with a frown. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I moved to America and met you, but I do miss China at times."

"That's understandable. I'm glad I came to America, but there's times where I just want to pack my bag and go back to Wales."

Jem nodded understandingly. "There's nothing like your first home."

Will nodded in agreement.

"Well, enough moping. I got a few new games for my Wii if you'd like to play."

"Sounds like fun. Let's play."

Jem and Will played the Wii for a few hours, racing and fighting until Will had to head home for dinner.

"Looks like I'll be needing to practice more while you're gone," Jem said, turning off the Wii.

"Yes. I want some competition next time."

Jem laughed and led Will to the door. "Hurry up and get home before your mother starts worrying.

"Don't worry, I'll get home. I'll see you tomorrow Jem."

"Bye Will."

Will leaned forward and gave Jem a hug. Jem smiled and hugged Will back.

Will put his shoes back on and left for his house, dreading getting ready for school the next morning.


	2. Chapter 2

Will woke up to the sound of his alarm clock going off. He groaned and covered his head with his pillow, but the persistent ringing wouldn't stop. He cracked open an eye and looked around blearily for the off button. He slammed his hand down on the off button and the ringing stopped. He looked down at the time. It was only five thirty in the morning.

Will turned over onto his back and groaned, keeping the pillow firmly plastered onto his face. He didn't want to get up. It was the first day of school. The first day of his last year.

There was a knock on Will's bedroom door and Linette poked her head in.

"Will? You need to wake up. I have breakfast ready downstairs, if you're hungry."

"I don't think I can go to school today Mam. I'm sick." Will faked a cough. "See?"

Linette sighed. "Oh Will, you're going to have to do better than that to fool me. Now hurry up and get dressed and get breakfast before it gets cold."

Will frowned but got up. He grabbed his uniform from his closet and dusted it off. It had been sitting in the back of his closet for nearly three months. Will was hoping by not being able to see it, it might just disappear.

Will made sure he had all of the parts of his uniform and put them on. He had to rummage through his drawer for his dress socks and search the back of his closet for his shoes. He finally put them on and started working his comb through his hair. He had to wet the comb a few times to attempt to tame the fly away strands from the static and to work through some nasty tangles. If this kept up for much longer, Will was going to seriously have to contemplate a haircut. His hair didn't seem to tangle as much when it was shorter.

Will finished with his hair and headed down to the table for breakfast. It was just before six o'clock.

Cece was already down at the table, eating some eggs and a bowl of cereal. She was wearing a white button down shirt that was tucked into a pleated khaki skirt. She had navy blue knee socks and black boat shoes. Since it was only the first quarter, she didn't have to wear the blazer.

Will was wearing a similar attire, but instead of a skirt, he wore khaki trouser. He also had to wear and blue and silver neck tie.

"Good morning Will~" She chimed.

"Why are you so awake?" He grabbed a plate of eggs and some bacon and sat down next to her. He fixed himself a glass of milk and took a sip.

"Because I actually went to sleep on time last night."

Will rolled his eyes. "More like you're excited to go to that hell hole we all call high school."

"Will!" Linette hit him in the back of the head with a rolled up newspaper. "Watch your language."

"Ow!" Will winced theatrically and rubbed the back of his head. "Well it's true."

"There is nothing wrong with your high school, Will. If there was, then you wouldn't be going there."

Will muttered in Welsh under his breath.

"I heard that Will," Linette said.

Will remained silent and finished eating his breakfast. He placed the dishes in the sink and went upstairs to grab his book bag. It was black with navy blue pockets. He picked it up and went downstairs to put it in the car. He climbed into the front seat and waited for his mother and sister.

Cece climbed into the back seat a few minutes later with a frown. "Why do you get to sit in the front?"

"Because I'm older than you."

Cece bit her lip and stayed silent.

Linette got into the car a few minutes later and started driving her children to school.

"Mam? Why isn't Dad taking us this morning?" Cece asked.

"He had to go into work earlier this morning and he wanted to let you sleep. If he had taken you, you would have been at school already."

Will made a face. "It's too early to be going to school now. I don't want to have to get there any earlier than I have to."

"I could always take you in later if you really want. It's just more convenient for you dad to take you seeing as he has to pass right by the school on his way to work," Linette said.

"I know." In all honesty, he didn't want to go in much later than he usually did. If he got to school at seven, he could claim a spot in the cafeteria to himself until the hall ways opened at seven thirty. And Jem usually got to school around seven twenty, so they could hang out together until their classes started. This year, they had a lot of the same classes together. AP Psychology, History, AP English, AP Calculus, and AP Chemistry. There was one class they didn't have together. While Jem had orchestra before lunch, Will had a free period. He was extremely grateful for it as well. He could use it to get ahead on his homework, or if need be, catch up on his sleep. No one ever got in trouble for sleeping during Senior Privilege. That and the Senior Lounge had a nice set of lounge chairs to relax in.

Linette stopped the car in front of the school building. "Here we are. I hope you two have a good day."

"Bye Mam." Cece grabbed her book bag and hopped out of the car.

"Bye Mam." Will grabbed his bag and went into the school building.

When he walked in, to his relief, not all that much had changed. Usually when he would come back from summer, the school would always try to improve itself in one way or another. Sometimes there would be banners hung in different places, or statues, and one year they even repainted all of the class rooms. Will remembered smelling the fresh paint for weeks. It gave him quite the headache.

Will went into the cafeteria and sat down in the Senior Lounge. He was going to miss sitting out in the normal part of the cafeteria, but the Senior Lounge had a lot more elbow room and he wasn't going to complain about that. He wasn't going to miss being crammed like a sardine while trying to eat lunch. And now that he was a senior, he could eat lunch outside if he so chose. He could either eat on the picnic benches or eat out in the gardens. The gardens were currently full of different summer flowers in reds, golds, and whites in preparation for fall. It was a really nice place and Will was excited to be able to eat out there. He was only able to visit it briefly on his way to his classes as an underclassman.

Will looked at the clock. It was just before seven. He rummaged through his bag until he found a book and started reading. Perhaps that would make the time until Jem arrived go by faster.

It was ten minutes later before someone else walked into the Senior Lounge. Will looked up from his book and immediately regretted it. It was Gabriel Lightwood of all people, strutting in as if he owned the place. Will rolled his eyes.

"You know, peacocks went out of fashion ages ago Lightworm," Will said.

"What was that Herondale? Did you just call me a peacock?"

"Well you're strutting about like one, so yes."

Gabriel frowned and set his bag down on a different table before walking over to Will's.

"I'm not strutting if you must know."

"Really? You could have fooled me." Will put his book back up and pretended to continue reading it to ignore and annoy Gabriel.

"Ugh Herondale, you're impossible." He huffed in frustration and walked away to sit with his things.

Once Gabriel left, Will went back to actually reading his book.

"How long am I going to have to stand here before you look up? Or is your book really that interesting?"

Will looked up. "Jem!"

"Good morning." Jem smiled and sat down next to Will. He set his violin and his bag on the floor and placed his thermos on the table.

"Drinking coffee already? It's only the first day Jem. If you need coffee now, you're never going to survive through the year."

Jem chuckled and took a sip from his thermos. "It's not coffee Will. I don't even like coffee. You know that. It's tea. It's a great thing to help one wake up in the morning."

Will made a face. "It isn't that green tea, is it?"

"No, it's black tea. I think you'll like this one. Do you want to try it?"

"Sure." Will took the thermos and took a sip. "Hm… It's not bad."

"Not bad?" Jem took his thermos back and held it between his hands.

"Are you cold?" Will looked at Jem's hands. His fingers were a bit pale, but otherwise they seemed fine.

"No. It just feels nice in my hands."

Will poked one of Jem's long, slender fingers with one of his own.

"May I help you?"

"No." Will sat back in his chair. "I really feel like these are my last few minutes of freedom before I'm held captive for another nine months. Let's go do something rebellious."

"Oh no Herondale. Whatever you're planning, I want no part of it. I've never gotten in trouble in school before, and I'm not about to change that now. Besides, can you imagine how much trouble I would get in when I went home? You wouldn't be able to come over and eat my mom's cooking for weeks."

Will's eyes widened in mock horror. "That would be the end of the world! Not to eat your mom's cooking? That's just cruel."

"Which is exactly why I'm not going to be joining you in whatever you're planning."

"I'm not actually planning anything Jem. Loosen up a bit. My mother would have my head if I got in trouble at school. It's bad enough when I got my phone taken away last year." Will shuddered at the memory. Getting in trouble with his mother was horrible. Linette made sure Will learned his lesson the first time around.

The bell rang and Jem grabbed his violin and his bag before standing up.

"Oh right. Don't you usually keep your violin in that storage room?" Will asked. He put his book back in his bag and stood up, throwing his bag over his shoulder.

"Yes, I do. If you'd like, you can come with me as I get my new locker."

"New locker? They don't just give you the same one as last year?"

Jem shrugged. "Sometimes they do. It depends on how many new people there are and if they got new lockers or not. Some of the instruments only fit in certain lockers because of their size. Like the cello for instance. There's only five different lockers where they will fit, so often the cello players have to share their lockers. And the basses are so big that they don't fit in the lockers at all. There's a rack if you will in the band room that they leave them on. They have very small lockers that only their folders and bows will fit in."

"They just leave their instruments on a rack? Isn't that dangerous? I know you don't like to leave your violin out on its stand all that often in case it tips over."

"Well their rack is a lot sturdier than my stand. It's made to hold them for a while. It's honestly the safest place to leave them. Even attempting to have them stand in a locker is very dangerous. And with how much they cost, I don't blame the director for not wanting to replace them."

Jem started walking to the band locker room and Will followed him.

"How much does a bass cost then?"

"Well, our director wouldn't buy the most expensive model. We couldn't afford them. So they would probably be between ten thousand and forty thousand dollars."

Will's eyes widened in surprise. "That much?"

"It's a big instrument Will. They're going to cost more. Professional models more so than student models and hand carved ones more so than machine made ones. Of course the ones that are carved by hand sound the best, but not everyone can afford that, which is why they make some of them with a machine."

They arrived at the storage room and Jem got his new locker assignment. Since most of the students that were in band and orchestra were there to put their instruments away, Will waited for Jem just outside of the door.

Will put his violin away and took his folder out of his bag to put in the locker. He closed it before going back to Will.

"How about we go find out where our real lockers are now?" Will asked. "I have too many text books that I don't want to carry around right now. Honestly, why do teachers always have to pick the biggest and heaviest books? It's as though they want us to have back problems."

"That's why they gave us lockers, because they're trying to spare out backs." Jem led Will down the hallways until they got to the area that held the senior lockers. They were the biggest in the school and rightfully so. The seniors had the most books to carry and usually had the smallest bags. After three full years of school, they learned not to carry all of their books at once.

"Oh, if only our lockers were right next to each other," Will said.

"Will, we have most of our classes together. It's not as if we aren't going to see each other."

"I know. And I'm not that far away. I'll see you in class." Will gave Jem a wave before parting to go to his own locker.

Will opened it up and wiped his hand over the shelves. They were clean and free of dust. He took out any of the books that he needed for his classes after lunch and put them away. He would pick these up later. He looked through his bag, debating whether or not it would be a good idea to leave any of his other books. His classes were quite spread out through the building and he didn't want to risk being late. Teachers may be more lenient on the first day, but he needed to get his timing down of walking to his classes to see if he would have time to pick up his books. Will sighed and decided to keep them for now. If he had time later, he could always put the books in the locker after class to lighten up his load a bit.

Will closed his locker and went to his first class of the day. AP Psychology. It was the same teacher that Will had for history the year before and she didn't particularly like him. She was also the same teacher that took away his phone the year before because he was playing on it in class. It wasn't his fault that the class was so boring. He loved history, but not with this teacher.

Will went into the room and picked his seat. It was near the middle of the room. He knew the teacher wouldn't let him sit in the back, and Jem didn't like sitting there. He though it was too hard to focus on what was going on. All of the talking and note passing that happened didn't help one's focus much either.

Will sat down and got out his books. He opened up his notebook to a fresh page and dated it.

"Ah, Mr. Herondale. It's nice to see you again," Mrs. Penhallow said from her desk. "I hope you've had a nice summer and are ready to focus this year."

"Yes, I had a good summer. I really wish it was still summer. I'm not quite ready for school to start."

Mrs. Penhallow stood up and gathered her lesson plan. "I don't think anyone is ready for school to start. But if you crack down now and focus, it will be over soon than you think." She went to the board and started writing down what they were going to go over.

Will rolled his eyes when her back was turned. The only way to make school go by faster was by cancelling it. No amount of focusing could make the days speed by.

Jem took a seat next to Will a few moments later and pulled out his supplies.

"Ready for the first class of the day?" Jem asked.

Will sighed and shook his head. "You couldn't pay me enough to be ready for my first class."


	3. Chapter 3

The bell rang, signaling the official start of the school day. The intercom dinging, getting everyone's attention for the morning announcements. Will was only half paying attention, while Jem was all ears. He knew Jem would be listening for any announcements about the band or orchestra.

The announcements were the same as they were at the beginning of every school year. What time were the auditions for the fall play going to be, what sports teams were having try outs and practices, when the band would have an afterschool rehearsal. It was the same thing year after year.

Once the announcements were over, Mrs. Penhallow wasted no time in starting class. She introduced herself for any of the students that didn't have her last year, which was only a handful and immediately dove into the material.

"Hey Jem?" Will whispered.

Jem ignored him, trying to pay attention to the teacher.

"Jem?"

"What?" Jem's eyebrow twitched in irritation. "I'm trying to pay attention, unlike you."

"I know that." Will copied something down into his notebook that Mrs. Penhallow wrote on the board. It was something about the structure of the brain.

"Then what do you want? Can't it wait until after class?"

"I was only going to ask you if you wanted to sit with me at lunch."

Jem rolled his eyes and sighed. "You could have waited until it was lunch time to ask me that. And it's not like I have much of a choice anyways. You would have sat with me even if I did say no."

"That's not true. You could always tell me to go away. I would be hurt, but I would."

Jem chuckled to himself. "You know that's not true."

"Alright. It's not true. I wouldn't go away, but I would be hurt."

"Now that sounds like the Will Herondale that I know and love. Now can I please pay attention to the lesson, or are you going to keep trying to distract me?"

Will smirked and looked up at the board. "You can pay attention."

The rest of the class was spent talking about the structure of the brain, and what each section's primary function was. Will had a hard enough time keeping all of it straight, and to his and his class's dismay, there was going to be a test on it at the end of the week.

When the bell rang, Will was more than grateful to pack his things and leave.

"So where are you headed Jem?"

Jem looked at his schedule to see his next class. "AP Calculus. What about you?"

"Same!" Will exclaimed.

"It' wouldn't surprise me if we had all of the same classes together." Jem finished backing his back and threw it over his shoulder.

"I know there's at least two classes that we wouldn't have together." Will threw his own bag over his shoulder and started heading to the door, glad to get out of that classroom.

"Oh? And what might those be?" Jem asked. He walked beside Will, occasionally slipping behind him with the crowds of the hallway didn't allow them to walk side by side.

"I know you have orchestra. I don't play an instrument, so I don't see me being in that class. And I'm pretty sure that you're not taking creative writing, are you?"

"You would be correct on both accounts. What are the odds that we have those classes at the same time?"

"When do you have orchestra?" Will asked.

"It's during fourth period. When creative writing?"

"AP Creative Writing, thank you very much. And it's during sixth period."

"Sorry. AP Creative Writing." Jem corrected himself with a chuckle.

"The AP makes a big difference."

"Oh trust me. I know."

Will walked into the classroom and picked a desk towards the middle of the room so that Jem wouldn't complain. "I'm going to have an entire free period to myself with no Jem to entertain me. Whatever am I going to do?"

Jem set his bag down and sat down next to Will. "Oh yes, whatever are you going to do?" He pulled out his notebook and his calculator. "It's not like you're not going to have any homework to do or anything."

"Doing homework? During a free period? Jem that's scandalous," Will said.

"What? I do my homework during my free periods. That's less work I have to do at home. And since I'm at school, it's easier to focus on it. Not to mention it's helpful that your teachers are close by should you have any questions."

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Will got his own things out and prepared for his class.

Will and Jem spent the rest of the day going to their classes, finding seats, and listening to the usual first day of class lectures. They found out that they had nearly every class together except for Orchestra and AP Creative Writing.

The met up again after Will's creative writing class by Jem's locker.

"Only one more class left and then we can go home," Will said. He was leaning on the locker next to Jem's. "Can you believe how much homework we have already? It's only the first day of school!"

"They're only giving us this much work to do because they want to prepare us for college. That's the whole point of a college preparatory school, Will." Jem got his books and closed his locker. He gave the dial a twist to make sure it was locked.

"Yeah but still. When am I supposed to have time to do this all? I do have a life you know."

"Really? You could have fooled me with that one."

"You wound me Jem."

Jem rolled his eyes playfully. "Come on Herondale or we'll be late to our last class. Where are you going anyways?"

Will looked at his schedule. This was the only class that he didn't have memorized yet. "Oh you've got to be kidding me!"

"What's wrong?" Jem asked.

"I've got AP Chemistry with Branwell! He's the worst teacher in the entire school. The only reason he still works here is because he's married to the principal."

"Oh Will, he can't be that bad. Let's go find out together shall we?" Jem asked.

"You have him too?"

"Yes I do." Jem started walking towards the chemistry rooms.

"Thank god they didn't put me in hell alone."

Jem just shook his head and walked into the classroom. He took a seat near the front.

"Oh thanks Jem. Now I can't fall asleep during lectures." Will put his stuff down and sat down next to Jem.

"You know you ought to pay attention. Colleges really do look at your AP exam scores. And it never hurts to do well so that you don't have to take the class again in college." Jem pulled out his textbook and his notebook. "And considering how heavy this textbook is, I wouldn't mind not having to carry it around for another year."

"Far enough. I swear this thing weighs a ton." Will got out his own book and set it down on the table.

The bell rang for class to start, but there was no sign of the teacher.

"What did I tell you Jem?"

"Maybe he had to use the bathroom and didn't hear the bell go off. Or maybe there was an emergency. Things do happen Will."

It was another five minutes later before Henry Branwell rushed into the room. He was carrying a stack of large textbooks that he dropped on the front desk with a loud thud. A few of the students jumped at the noise.

"Sorry I'm late class. I got held up in the teacher's lounge," Henry said. He started going through the stack of books on the table and pulled out a folder. "Ah good, I didn't leave them," He muttered to himself. He pulled a small stack of paper out of the folder and started passing them out. "This is your course syllabus and on the back is the schedule for all of our classes. So if you're absent, you can look at the schedule to see what you missed and what homework will be due."

Will picked up his copy once it was placed on his desk. "At least we'll get field trips. That ought to be exciting."

"Hands on learning is always preferable to sitting in a classroom all day." Jem looked his over. "It looks as though we're going to be learning a lot of things this semester."

Henry finished passing out the syllabi and went to stand in the front of the classroom. "Now, we're going to start ever class with attendance, but since this is the first day, I'm going to tell you the class procedures first and then take role just in case any of you happened to get lost."

"We've been here or three years already, how does he expect us to get lost?" Will whispered to Jem.

Jem made a shushing noise back at him.

"I know this is an AP level course and I have to cover certain materials, but I prefer a more hands on approach to learning, and chemistry is the perfect subject for that. Of course there's going to be lectures, but there will be an experiment almost every other class so you can really learn the material for yourself and apply what you've learned in the lectures almost immediately," Henry said.

"I wonder how long it will take for him to blow something up," Will whispered.

Jem hit him in the leg.

"Ow!"

"Will you be quiet? Give the poor man a chance," Jem said.

"And if you've looked at the schedules," Henry continued," you can see that I've scheduled a few field trips."

A student that was sitting behind Will raised their hand.

"Ah yes, Miss…"

"Gray. Tessa Gray."

Will turned around to see who was speaking. It was a girl with fair skin, long brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail, and light gray eyes.

"I noticed that we're going on a field trip to an aquarium. Would you mind explaining what that has to do with chemistry?" Tessa asked.

"Oh yes… That trip is during our study of water chemistry and we're going to see how water chemistry can affect life. And what better place is there to do that than an aquarium?"

The class started muttering to each other.

"Settle down class. It might not make much sense now, but I promise it will when we start that chapter."

The class quieted down fractionally, but you could still hear a slight murmur.

The rest of the class period was spent by Henry going over the syllabus and taking attendance. Then they dove straight into the first chapter.

"Don't forget to finish reading chapter one in your text books and to answer all of the question at the end," Henry called out once the bell rang.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me… I don't think I've ever had this much homework on the first day of school before," Will complain as he packed his things.

"Most of your homework is reading and to sign the syllabus. That's not that bad, is it?" Jem asked.

"No I guess not. Though it's still a lot more than I would like to have. Whatever happened to gently getting you back into the swing of things?"

"Will, the last time that happened was Freshman year."

"I knew that…"

Jem chuckled and patted Will on the shoulder. "Don't worry. It won't be that bad. Besides, if you ever need any help, you can always ask me. You pretty much live at my house anyways."

"Do you think I could come over today?" Will asked.

"I don't see why not. My mom likes you, so she doesn't mind when you stop by."

"Alright. I'll just text my mom and let her know where I'm going so she doesn't wait for me in the parking lot."

Will pulled out his phone and waited for it to turn on.

"Do you need to go to your locker?" Jem asked.

"Yeah. I've got to grab a few other books for homework tonight. What about you."

"Same. Do you mind if we share your chemistry book. If we're both going to be using it, then there's no point in having two of them, is there?"

"You just don't want to have to carry yours around."

Jem smirked as he headed for the door. "You're not wrong."

The boys went to their lockers to put their things away and grab whatever books they needed to do their homework. Will finished first and met Jem by his locker.

"If you don't mind following me, I need to pick up my violin from the instrument storage room."

"Alright. Lead the way Jem."

Jem closed his locker when he was done and headed to grab his violin.

"Wouldn't it make more sense to keep your violin in your locker?" Will asked as they walked. He followed Jem into storage room.

"Not really. My locker out there isn't big enough to fit it comfortably and it's out of the way between Orchestra and Geography. I wouldn't want to be late. Not with our teacher."

Will rolled his eyes. "God, don't remind me. Can you believe he won't let us use the bathroom without taking points off?"

"That and we're going to miss his class because of Mr. Branwell's fieldtrips, so that's going to take points off too." Jem grabbed his violin and closed his locker.

"It's ridiculous. I can't believe he actually gets away with it too. How does the school even endorse that?"

Jem shrugged. "I couldn't tell you." He frowned and tightened his grip on his violin.

"He even takes off points when you're out sick. As if you can control that," Will said.

"That's enough Will." Jem started walking to his car.

Will hurried after him so he wouldn't get left behind. "Oh Jem, I'm sorry. I didn't think about that. Maybe you can get a note from your doctor explain what was going on?" Will asked.

"I'm not going to worry about it until I have to. Let's just go."

Will followed Jem in silence to his car. It was a small car, but it got Jem where he needed to go, and that's all that mattered.

Jem put his violin in the back seat and strapped it in with the seatbelt to make sure that it wouldn't' go anywhere before climbing into the driver's seat.

Will put his book bag in the back and climbed into the passenger's seat.

Jem turned on the car and pulled out of the school parking lot.

"Still listening to classical music?" Will asked as he picked up on the music that was gently playing from the radio.

"Yes. It's good for you. Though if you'd like, I can change it to the Chinese station."

"No thanks. I can't understand a word they're saying." Will shook his head.

"Don't feel bad, I speak the language and I still don't understand them sometimes. It's harder to pick up on the tones when they're sung."

"I can only imagine."

It was a short drive from their school to Jem's house.

"Well. Here we are." Jem pulled into his driveway and turned off the car.

"I guess I ought to bring in my book bag since we're doing homework."

"Unless you really want to put your shoes back on and run out here to get it. I'm not bringing it in for you." Jem got out of the car to grab his own book bag and his violin.

"I guess I'll bring it in now." Will grabbed his own and threw it over his shoulder.

Jem made sure they had grabbed all of their things and locked his car before going up to the front door to unlock it.

"And my mom is still trying to get used to having the house by herself again, so she might keep you down here a while to talk to you. I feel bad leaving her alone all day but I do have to go to school," Jem said.

"Thanks for the warning."

Jem unlocked the door and the boys stepped inside.


End file.
